Borr Drilling has signed a letter of intent to acquire from Transocean its entire fleet of 15 jackup rigs.
The deal is worth around $1.35bn and will see Borr Drilling take on 10 rigs from Transocean’s existing fleet, and an additional five jackups currently on order at Singapore’s Keppel Fels.
A deposit for the deal has been placed, and the board of Keppel Fels have pre-approved the novation of the newbuild contracts.
Borr Drilling has also announced an $800m equity offering to finance the deal, with the book already covered.
The acquisiton is expected to be completed by the end of May.
Born Drilling was formed by a clutch of former confidantes of John Fredriksen. Rune Magnus Lundetræ, a former CFO of Seadrill, is the CEO while Fredriksen’s former right hand man Tor Olav Troim is a key board member.
The company took on its first two jackup rigs in December 2016 from Hercules Offshore for a total of $130m.
